CLASP students achieved an average normalized FCI gain of 0.39, above the traditional-course range and in the middle of the interactive-engagement range, despite only about a third of one quarter on mechanics¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r2 · q2 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i2 FCI pre/post testing of 898 students in four groups (1999-2001) yielded an average pretest of 31% correct and an average normalized gain of 0.39 ± 0.01, which the authors place above Hake's traditional-course range (0.24 ± 0.03) and in the middle of the interactive-engagement range. → Potter 2012

Evidence¶

Potter 2012¶

Potter, W., Webb, D., West, E., Paul, C., Bowen, M., Weiss, B., Coleman, L., & De Leone, C. (2012). Sixteen years of Collaborative Learning through Active Sense-making in Physics (CLASP) at UC Davis. https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.6970 doi:10.48550/arxiv.1205.6970

q2 · i2 · design · r2

FCI administered as pre-test at the start of CLASP A and post-test at the end of CLASP B to 898 students across four groups in 1999-2001. The article notes the FCI was never administered to Physics 5, so the traditional-course comparison uses Hake's published gain of 0.24 ± 0.03.

"The Force Concept Inventory (pre-test at beginning of CLASP A and post-test at the end of CLASP B) was given to four different groups of students (total of 898 students) in 1999-2001 resulting in an average pretest score of 31% correct and an average normalized gain of 0.39 ± 0.01."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Hake's survey found interactive-engagement courses achieved average normalized gains about two standard deviations greater than traditional courses, with overall gain–pretest correlation of +0.02 — a broader claim this one bears on
• In physics-based courses for non-science majors taught with active-engagement pedagogy, normalized gains were 0.38–0.42 on content tests but 0.06 on a scientific-reasoning test — related
• Bioscience students who took the CLASP series had statistically significantly higher upper-division GPAs than students who took the traditional Physics 5 series — related
• Students in a technology-enhanced modeling physics class learned significantly more than students in an otherwise identical no-technology class — related
• Actively engaging learning environments show higher learning gains than one-way lecture environments, according to a National Academies consensus study cited in one article — a broader claim this one bears on
• Active learning gains are larger on concept inventories than on instructor-written course examinations — related
• In Harvard's introductory physics course, average FCI posttest scores and normalized gain rose sharply in the year it switched from traditional lectures to Peer Instruction — related
• CLASP students' expert-like epistemologies (MPEX-II) were statistically unchanged over the quarter, unlike the declines reported for most standard and many reformed physics classes — related
• Students who took the first quarter of CLASP before general chemistry earned significantly higher chemistry grades in all three quarters of the chemistry sequence — related
• Introductory physics students taught with Just-in-Time Teaching showed larger overall Force Concept Inventory gains (37.6%±2.0%) than students in traditional lecture courses (17.9%±2.5%) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The authors of one physics-course study attribute its technology-supported gains to the student-centred, active-engagement pedagogy the technology was used within — related
• Large randomized evaluations of project-based learning programs show advantages over traditional science teaching of about 0.2 standard deviations — related